I hope you are all well, I am currently settling back into the British winter after been away for a bit of Floridian winter in Miami, jet lag is not affecting me as much this time luckily, I have my dog alarm clock in these mornings that wakes us up pining and barking….yes Coco is having a phantom pregnancy and she is so hormonal and crazy now…oh it sounds familiar, a bit like me!!

Anyway after having a great time in sunny Florida hanging out at the Boat Show by the old marine stadium in Key Biscayne, seeing friends, boating around and eating out a lot we came back home to reality, and to an event I attended last Tuesday and I have to tell you all about.

Karma is such a b••••…as you guys remember on my previous blog post talking about fitness, diets, fitness DVDs, dry January and so on … and two days after publishing it I get invited to a Fitness blogging event, And isn’t it ironic… don’t you think? As Alanis Morissette would sing

I must admit I was excited and scared at the same time to go this meeting at the Fitness First Gym in Brighton…I am totally not a gym bunny and walk through a gym full of people kinda scares me a bit, because I wouldn’t know where to look or let alone where to start!

I put my gym gear on and I took the train down to Brighton where I was welcome by very nice and friendly people who showed me and the other bloggers around the facilities of the gym, I am a bit claustrophobic and see the staircases going down and down made me a bit nervous, but once down in the gym area I didn’t feel UNDERGROUND at all, I couldn’t believe how busy it was, 6pm on a Tuesday, all these people working out?! Madre Mia, I would normally be at home playing around in the kitchen and getting ready for an aperitif!

Me and the lovely Natalie from Tea Cake and Make were assigned to personal trainer Sam, who was really nice, friendly and kind to us, we had a chat before start to know us a bit better about what we are used to “gymwise”, if we had any sort of injury or problems that needed to be addressed before start and he make me feel comfortable to go down that staircase and walk through the Gym’s door.

Mind you I still feel my legs sore three days after but I really enjoyed the workout, apologise for the sweaty pictures, I can totally say that I hate lunges with all my heart because I struggle to find my balance and the abs exercises were hard but effective, as I left the Brighton club feeling shaky on my journey home.

After working us out Sam spent more time with us to reply to all our questions and I really enjoyed the way he was explaining us the work of a personal trainer, the importance of a good diet and the importance of a good balance in life, which is totally my philosophy.

Before this event I must admit, I was rather sceptical about personal trainers in general, maybe let’s blame the social media…but I couldn’t understand why people would just get one, even one assigned by the gym not chosen by the person, and why would they totally do what they say to do, eat what they say according to their “meal plan” and totally trust somebody that would just call them Honey or Darling just because they have so many clients and they can’t remember your name (and maybe even developing a crush on the PT in the meantime…sad women!) but I must say, Sam with his 11 years experience of personal training in England and in Australia made me see things in a different way and we could totally get on and agree on working out as a lifestyle choice to feel better, not just to show off on social media that you are developing a slight beginning of abs, or ass and showing the word of Instagram that you are drinking a protein shake….I do not have a problem with gym bunnies but MODERATION is the key, OBSESSION is something I would steer clear from.

Would I get a personal trainer myself? Of course not, but I would totally recommend Sam at Fitness First in Brighton if you guys are looking for one! I will keep on doing my weekly classes when in the country, use my complimentary passes soon and keep on enjoying life as I always do, even with or without abs, the world of social media can carry on even without my Motivation Monday or Transformation Tuesday, as I haven’t got nothing to transform as I am happy and body confident and I do not need to have the approval of anybody.

I know it has been a long time since my last post but January has been filled with lots of events, good and bad ones that the time just flew away and I finally find myself here at the beginning of February to post again to discuss my latest projects.

Wedding season is going to kick-start soon and it’s time to get ready with my clients to get all the paperwork and the boring bureaucracy part out of the way to focus on the details of the big day, flowers, food, decorations and so on…from this I got contacted by an Italian wedding blog for whom now I am writing tips for the future brides and grooms, it’s so exciting and fulfilling to have free pass to write about anything I want…shame that I do struggle to write the post in English and Italian, the Italian part takes me ages… since when I have nearly forgotten to write in my own language? Crazy!

So if you guys want to read my latest post for the Italian wedding blog Panorama Sposi here we go the links:

This new project is really exciting for me but I haven’t forgotten my first love, my blog anna in her wonderland! Everybody is glad that January is over and despite the cold weather and the sporadic snow sometimes, I am already focusing into spring and I have been exercising a lot, more to keep my mind busy than anything else but it’s working, I feel already better and more full of energy, but so hungry all the time! Luckily I don’t need to lose any weight otherwise it will be a bit pointless do all that exercise and stuff my face after (but in a healthy way!)

Coco my lazy dog is always on my side keeping me company between a nap and the other, luckily I have her next to me!

Well guys I hope you will enjoy my wedding related post on Panorama sposi and have a great weekend you all!

x

I discovered a new old recipe my mum used to make, and now I am obsessed with it! Chocolate salami my last craving

But I am trying to be healthy too after a workout, loving my banana, avocado, ginger, lemon, spinach, cucumber and coconut water smoothie

But on a Sunday the good work gets forgotten, I am a sucker for a good sunday roast and sticky toffee pudding

My gluten free chocolate and espresso cake was a hit…shame it didn’t look the part but the taste was great! Yes I work out and I come home to bake, shame on me

I woken up feeling like pancakes a few days ago, a new thing for me because to me pancake are like italian crespelle but filled with mushrooms, ham and so on…but the banana version is just so good!

Right I am not a food blogger as you guys all know so let’s quit the foodie section and go back to something else…like coco!

She loves roasting by the fire

So glad our bathroom is finally nearly finished and I can enjoy baths sometimes, just chill out music on and nothing else

Some beautiful flowers can lift your mood in such a good way, I love flowers everywhere

And after months of terror of curbing wheels, I decided to be Smart and get a city car to not just been paranoid about where to park my SUV!

Still obsessed with babies and Christian, my friend’s 9months boy gives me such a joy everytime I see him

Sometimes I come back as you can see, I know it has been a while with Christmas, the holidays, the vacation and all that but I am finally back, luckily just for a month, I can’t already bare how cold is back here, I am more a sunny & hot weather type of girl, 100% more Miami than Brighton Beach!

I had such a great and amazing time back home in Italy to celebrate Christmas with my family and my friends, they were 8 full days of fun, laughter, shopping trips, lunches and dinners and lots of dancing in the clubs around my hometown of Bergamo, I felt like 18 again! It is so crazy how just a week spend with the people you love most that unfortunately due to the circumstances I don’t see that often recharged my batteries and gave me a massive energy boost to keep going, so glad to have such great family and awesome loving friends in my life!!!

Touched down back in the Kingdom it was time to celebrate with my husband and leave the cold behind for the sunny shores of Miami, our favourite place on earth, where we just enjoyed hanging out, sunbathing, swimming, eating and drinking, walking the neighbours’ dog (I have the new role of Floridian dog sitter to a gorgeous 7 months old golden retriever), getting the boat ready for the February trip and having fun!!

I have been reading a lot on social media recently about New Year’s resolution…is that me but this year it seems a bit gone too far…I mean so many people are talking about it non-stop…and will they actually “obey” to their NY’s vows? Of course everybody (apart me) feels a bit fat after all the overindulging during the Christmas holidays but a bit of control and a bit of exercises will get everything and everybody back in track, without any drama and without becoming a body builder or a fitness fanatic for a few weeks!

So pleased of my fast burning metabolism, in Italy I must admit all I ate was pasta, tons of pizza and I couldn’t resist to focaccia when I drove down to the Riviera for the day…lots of veggie too but just such a different diet to what I normally cook and eat here…and within 3 days 2kg were gone, where I do not really need to lose weight!! The secret is just happiness and moderation, in everything, and stop going on with all new year’s resolution bullshit, have fun & be happy!

With Love

The view of the Riviera, happiness from the balcony

Santa has forgotten his laundry!Saturday night dinner party with friends, amazing times!

It has been a long time since my last post, so much went on and now, that I am getting ready to fly home to spend Christmas time with family and friends, I found a few spare minutes for my blog, I am not neglecting it but sometimes it’s hard to find time for everything!

I can’t believe it’s Christmas time already, last minute wrapping presents, my suitcase to fill, the smell of winter in the air…loving this time a year!

Recently I have been busy organising a surprise birthday party for my mother in law which went so well, all the family and friends here at home for Sunday lunch of celebrations, such a good event!

From party planning to wedding planning…to DIY expert…we are doing some renovation at home, having a new bathroom fitted upstairs and of course my husband and a friends are working on it, and every hour you can hear : Anna…can you go to wickes or B&Q to get this…this and this?? I even have a DIY account at the local store now!!

Bathroom apart now it’s time to get ready to go home, Italy I am coming!!! Coming back here on Boxing day and fly away again for new year’s eve in Miami…it sounds like our usual good plan!!

Merry Christmas and Happy new year everybody!!!

xxx

Cover up it’s cold outside!

Coco doing what she does best…

So obsessed with babies and so in love with my little friend

Memories I found online of the Poker run…back soon!

Macaroons…my latest discovery!

Ready to party coco!

Our Christmas…card?

Hanging around the Christmas tree…

Day of shopping in London…with a lovely lobster lunch at Burger and Lobster!

in less than 24 hours it will be my birthday, exactly 9 days after my husband’s birthday and we cannot wait to go to London to celebrate the event with our good friends, I can’t still believe the number…it feels like yesterday when I turned 18, or 20, or 24…30 seems such a big and imposing number!

I have had a few busy days last week, we had some friends over from the States and we have been enjoying the English countryside, with lots of food and drinks…that’s why I have been Booze Free since Thursday, but I so look forward to crack the rose’ champagne tonight to start the celebrations!

An Italian trip in a few days, a trip to Ibiza in September…and Miami to come soon enough to keep me busy and look forward the next move. So obsessed with pets and babies at the moment, I went to visit friends last week I and get so happy around the babies and toddler…will it be our turn soon? Hopefully!

I wish you all an amazing week!!!

xxx

Our first birthday cake made by our friends daughters, so sweet!

My latest obsession, Benson the bulldog Cavalier king charles meeting upOn a windy day out and about in Brighton Smoothie o’clock, trying to detox Sunday roast at the local pub with my American girlfriend And a British afternoon tea Happy birthday to my gorgeous husband I want kids right now, look how gorgeous Christian is!!!! So obsessed!!! And his little sister who likes to take selfies with AnnaCocktail o’clock at Aqua Kyoto in London My first 30th birthday card!!! Manicure monday, I love my Cake Pop shellac colour! And why not photobomb Coco?? My gorgeous baby

After 10 days in the hot and humid Miami I am back home, reunited with Coco, struggling with the jet lag, enjoying the beautiful (for the moment) British weather and so looking forward to have my husband back home at the weekend, I wasn’t very happy to start with but thanks to Norwegian airlines I had two more days in Florida due to problems with the plane, luckily I managed to fly back solo without too many problems…I just missed my cousin’s birthday bash in London and the chance to spend time with him and our friends…Bloody Norwegian!!!

The vacation/holiday was hot…hot… and sometimes stormy, so looking forward to go back there in September when, I hope, the weather should be more bearable.

I have some pictures to show you the best bits…and I am getting ready to turn 30 years old in 19 days…I am actually quite paranoid about, I am growing old and it doesn’t help the fact that apparently I cannot pronounce 30 correctly…according to people I sound Irish when I say thirty…I am going to be stuck with the 3 for a while damn it!

Well, let’s not worry about and let’s just think that after the birthday we will go to the Italian Riviera to celebrate the time with my parents and friends…so looking forward to trofie al pesto and industrial quantities of focaccia to eat!

Have a good day you all

xxx

They say size doesn’t matter…I think it does in the States!

So pleased to see this gorgeous face again!

And I fell in love with Cody, the new puppy of our neighbour

It cannot be breakfast at Atelier Monnier in Brickell Ave without getting some Macaroons

Bad hair day?

Cruising around town

Do I need a filter? I think I look tanned anyway!

A walk on the beach at the lighthouse in Key Biscayne

Walk with racoon spotting

Gorgeous day out on the boat at Boca Chita Key

With a pit stop at the sand bar on the way back

Getting ready for dinner, while trying to cover some interesting tan lines on my back thanks to my bikini!

Rusty pelican our favorite dinner hotspot

Biscayne bay view

The poor lobster has been renamed Sebastian to pay tribute to the Little Mermaid Disney Character

As usual I am really late at posting updates on the blog, sorry guys I lose track of time sometimes! I spent a week in Italy with my family checking out wedding venues for my next bride and groom to be, so pleased to have had the chance to go over the beautiful Lake Como again, work meeting pleasure is always the way forward! And I spent the weekend enjoying time with the family, going clubbing on the other lake, Lake Garda, relaxing and having fun… sometimes just a few days home recharge my batteries so much to keep on going better and stronger!

Back home I keep on feeling like I need to cook and bake all day, yesterday for example I wasn’t feeling my best but suddenly after dinner I thought..I fancy a cake! Opened the fridge, found two large oranges, butter, yogurt and eggs…one hour later we were all eating orange cake!

I have had my family over last weekend where we spent a nice day in Brighton on a beautiful sunny day, shame Coco is in season and we were chased by male dogs on the seafront…and shame a few days after going back into Brighton I curbed my wheel very badly…my husband wasn’t impressed as you all can imagine, my excuse was “I have had the car for 4 months and this is the first time, I am doing quite alright for myself!”

Anyway I felt boring last week so I decided to change my look, so short bob hairstyle with blonde highlights, I am only a month and eleven days from turning 30…I am probably experiencing a beginning of midlife crisis…and between a cup of tea and a walk with the dog we are getting ready for the next Miami trip, only ten days to go!

Have a good week everybody

The first thing to do when in Italy? Espresso is my must

Followed by a polenta based lunch

How can you not fall in love for Villa del Balbianello? good enough to film Casino Royale and Star wars…good enough for me!

I hope you all had a very nice weekend, here in the south east the weather has been glorious and we enjoyed being outdoors and going out…goodbye winter and welcome spring, please last!

Last Monday we collected my new car, which I am very pleased to drive around, I am just a bit concerned by the size of it. My first car (in Italy) was a Smart, I had a Smart when I moved to England (2 seats), we bought an Audi A1 two years ago (4 seats) and now we just upgraded myself to a 7 seats…I think I can get pregnant now that I have a big car! 😉

In the past week I tried to work hard at the gym…failing! But me and Coco enjoyed long walks in the country that should still count as a workout…please allow me this! The passion for baking hasn’t gone and my last creation was a recipe that I highly customised … chocolate cake with Frangelico liquor and hazelnut…so tasty!

But for some strange reason despite all my baking I still look quite skinny and I can’t believe I managed to squeeze myself into a size 12/13 years denim shorts from H&M…bring it on sunshine!!!

I feel rather green at the moment…thanks to my latest high street purchase in Italy, a pair of green heels which they perfectly match one of my cashmere sweater…but anyway let’s not talk too much about wintery clothes…I am going to be in Miami in a week time, bring it on Miami Music Conference and bring it on summery online shopping! (all done this morning…to beat the Monday blues)

I’m sorry it has been a while since last time I posted on the blog, as I said before we are working here at home to renovate the interiors and we are constantly busy on that, I am constantly busy on the dog that now has decided to rip apart everything, rugs, mats and even the curtains, when is she going to get over that???And at the moment I am constantly busy thinking about going away on Monday…how many sleep till??? I hate thinking how autumn like the weather is here and I love to think how nice and warm it is in Miami… Plus doesn’t help the fact that my tan has completely faded and that my local sun bed shop has closed for renovations…not good timing!

Halloween has gone by, we “celebrated” it enjoying a night out in Brighton but still, it wasn’t the same of Lincoln road…am I slightly obsessed? Yes I am!! I look forward to lounge by the pool, enjoying the sunshine, enjoy the time with our friends and I can’t wait to eat some Cuban food…I made the Anglo-Italian version of Vaca Frita last week, tasty, but not as tasty as Versailles!

Enjoy the rest of your week guys and speak with you from the Sunshine State next week!

If I could just speak with hash tags this post will be called #annainherwonderland #hasdiscovered #newhorizons ….yes I finally stepped into the future…I gave up my Blackberry for the new iPhone 5s and I absolutely love it!!!

My poor husband is quite traditional and not as open as me to change phones, to use tablets and general technology speaking… after a few looks at the iPhone and after a few touches of the screen said: It’s like a mini iPad!

My reply was a bit like “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

The iPhone clearly! 🙂

Anyway, apart play all day with my iThings (still a definition from my husband) I am working on another wedding in Tuscany, which makes me really excited, we are changing a few bits around at home and I am intrigued by interior design, furniture shops and so on…I keep busy with the dog, as usual, and my food and baking obsession hasn’t stopped…luckily I am still firm on my 50 kilos! I am trying to enjoy the time here as much as I can, until the next trip planned in a few weeks, which I can’t wait for! Ten days in Miami with our good friends, it’s going to be good!

Plus I have so many things to look forward to

Miami trip

My best friend is coming to visit

10 days in Italy for Christmas

I love the Christmas season, I am already thinking which decorations to go for the tree, I have already made a list of presents for family and friends, and I must be honest, I have already the Christmas cards sorted…call me super organized…or say that I haven’t got a damn to do all day, your choice!!!

Anna in her wonderland

If you fancy Keep Up With Anna in her wonderland, Italian wedding planner born and raised in Bergamo (Italy), moved to Brighton (UK) in 2009 and adopted by Miami 6 years ago, I a more a Miami girl than Brighton Beach one! I write this blog to keep my friends and family updated with what I am up to,from pleasure to business everything I write is my real life and nothing that I write about has been set up for your entertainment, Are you interested? Follow me!
If you want to contact me please email me annainherwonderland@gmail.com